“999! I forgot my sunscreen!”

“What time does Harvey Nichols open?”; “I’m at the pool and I’ve forgotten my sunscreen”; “I just realised I sent pork sausages to school for my child’s lunch – what shall I do?”

It’s quite amusing to come up with potential “emergency” scenarios in a place like Dubai but the reality is that the type of problems for which we Dubai residents call 999 are more mundane even than those.

While we obviously experience our share of genuine emergencies, such as road accidents, fires, medical emergencies and the occasional robbery, this week it was reported that Dubai Police operations room, which takes 999 calls, received over 1.15 million non-emergency calls in 2012 – over half of the total calls.

“People call up 999 to sometimes complain of headaches and ask for Panadol,” Major General Jassim Baremeith, Director Operations at Dubai Police told Emirates 24/7. Others have called 999, he says, to ask for directions to a shopping mall, to complain that a metered taxi fare is too expensive and to ask which pharmacies are open. “One call was from a person who reported the flight of his housemaid,” says Maj. Gen. Baremeith. “He stayed on the line to ask what to do.” (What’s the Arabic for “hang up now”?)

But the use of the 999 lines for non-emergency problems is not a problem confined to Dubai. In the UK, abuse of the emergency lines is rife as people see dialling 999 as an easy way to get help, no matter what the problem. Here, I can imagine the problem is compounded as expats, unsure of procedures in certain situations, think they should check with the police. But for these types of enquiries there’s a different number in Dubai: 901.

According to UK police, an emergency is defined as “when a crime is in progress, someone suspected of a crime is nearby, when there is danger to life or when violence is being used or threatened.” If you’re not sure, ask yourself: Is this a life-or-death situation?

In the UK, West Midlands Police report receiving “emergency” calls about lost laptop passwords; hairs found in meals; a man who couldn’t get served in McDonalds; and even one from a man asking the police to come and “frighten” his sister.

Fed up with such time-wasters, the force decided to take action. Earlier this month they released a video of some of the most ridiculous calls they received. On February 1, they staged a 24-hour “Tweetathon”, during which they Tweeted details of all the calls that they got in an attempt to highlight the time-wasters. Since then, non-emergency calls to the 999 line have reduced by 500 per day – with Dubai Police already having a very active presence on Twitter, it could be worth a try here, too.

Annabel Kantaria is a journalist who moved to Dubai long before most people knew where it was. She doesn’t ride a camel to work; has never seen a gold-plated golf buggy and only rarely has pink champagne for breakfast. Follow her on Twitter: @BellaKay